I read the most interesting thing in my study Bible this morning! Currently I am in Genesis 3:1 where the serpent asks Eve "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" I quote from it's notes "the question and the response changed the course of human history! By causing the woman to doubt God's word, Satan brought evil into the world." At that encounter it was the same world that God had recently created.
Boy did it ever change history! Eve had the perfect life in that garden.....no weeds, no bugs, no worries! God had provided everything for her so why would she ever allow doubt in? Eve's small seed of doubt planted that day led each and everyone of us into a sinful, hard, painful, unfair life...just by one little doubt. She screwed life up for the rest of us! To be real honest I have always wanted to kick that woman!
Then another thing popped out in my reading; the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made....God had made the snake! Why had I assumed the snake was Satan's creation? I love my study note Bible!!! It reminded me that Satan, the great deceiver, had only taken on the appearance of a snake. The snake that had been part of the creation in Gen 1:24 and the same part of that creation which God declared as "It was good" in verse 25. It makes me wonder if Satan had tricked the snake into taking a part of this encounter? Because after all the snake had a part of the ensuing curse.
We think of doubt as normal and inconsequential.....but really it is the tool to alienate us from God. Doubt is just the first step and often leads to a reaction which separates us further. We humans are so easily deceived and often so fainthearted it makes me wonder just what is there about us that God could love? And that is how easy Satan tempts us to doubt!!!!
And I quickly realize how am I any different than Eve? How many times has a tiny seed of doubt changed my life course? How would my life be different if there had never been moments of doubt & a consequent reaction? Very convicting to me!
Do you struggle with doubt in your life? The only recommendation I have is to saturate yourself in God's instruction book for life! It is a vital part of maintaining the relationship you started when you accepted Jesus as your salvation(Romans 10:9). The Bible is still as relevant to everyday life as it was when it was originally written! It provides the only hope we have to stand against the deceptions of Satan(Ephesians 6:10-11). What better than the sword when you fighting a battle(Eph 6: 17)?
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